Communication system and method

ABSTRACT

A remote control device for consumer broadcast receivers, particularly television and radio receivers, is disclosed. In addition to the remote control features normally found on such a device, the device also contains a display on which advertisements, product and service offers, and other information (collectively, “display data”) may be shown to the user. The device receives such display data via a radio link from one of a plurality of central processing stations. The user of the device may interact with such display data (for example, to purchase an advertised good), and the device may send back details of such interactions to a central processing station, which in turn may initiate a transaction with the appropriate sponsoring party.

This application is a continuation of pending application Ser. No.09/463,033. filed on Jul. 16, 2000.

The present invention relates to a communication system and method. Theinvention further relates to a transmitter apparatus and a receiverapparatus for use with the system and to a subscriber apparatus forcommunicating with at least one of the transmitter and receiverapparatus.

The invention may be applied to the field of remote control units forconsumer broadcast receivers, including television and radio receivers.The invention relates to the display of (possibly programme-related)information, advertising, and product and service offers on said remotecontrol units. The invention provides use of said units to allowconsumer response to the said displays, particularly but not exclusivelywhere said response involves the purchase of said products and servicesso offered.

It is commonly known in the advertising, sales and marketing arts thatusers are much more likely to initiate an impulse purchase ofinformation, products and services (collectively, ‘offerings”) if:

1) they are induced to think about said offerings in a positive mannershortly prior to the offer of sale,

2) an offer of sale is, in fact, made and

3) it is fast and easy for users to place orders for such offerings,once the offer of sale has been made.

Broadcast media, such as television and radio, often satisfy the firstcondition for many offerings. For example, upon hearing a track from analbum on the radio on the radio, a listener will commonly wish topurchase that album. Similarly, upon watching a cookery programme ontelevision, a viewer may wish to purchase a bottle of wine reviewedtherein. Indeed, condition 1) forms a key premiss of many televisionshopping channels, infomercials and commercials in the United States andelsewhere.

Unfortunately, however, condition 2) is often unsatisfied, as, forexample, when a radio station does not broadcast the name of the artistand album of the current song, or where (as in the cookery programmeexample) there is no provision to phone in orders (which is a costlyenterprise for the broadcaster to maintain). Many commercialopportunities to make a sale are lost in this way.

Furthermore, even when 1) and 2) are satisfied (as with a televisionshopping channel), it is usually the case that 3) is not. Users whomight initially be keen to purchase an offering become less so when suchpurchase involves location of a credit card, phoning up, waiting in ananswering system, and then having to give a number of lengthy details.Lack of convenience acts as a strong barrier to sales.

Various solutions have been proposed in the art to the various problemsof 1), 2) and 3). However, a good, economical solution has not yet beenoffered to all three.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,326 (Goldstein) describes the use of a universalremote control device with a built in display on which advertisementscan be shown. The system does allow purchasing; however, this requiresthe use of a phone modem, which is highly inconvenient, and also, sincethe system connects directly to the sponsoring party, may require directdata handling for which that party is not equipped. Furthermore;downloading data into the device requires either the use of the saidmodem, a set-top box adaptor (to gain access to in-band or out-of-bandProgramme Associated Data (PAD)), an optical device to ‘read’information off the television screen, or an audio device to detectinformation hidden in audio signals. The disadvantage of using the phonemodem to download PAD is clear, in that a call must be made, which isinconvenient, and since there is both a limited memory in the device(limiting the amount of static information which can be downloaded) andoccasions when the PAD will be highly volatile and not known ahead oftime (as with sporting events), the solution is not general. Thedisadvantages of using a set-top box, namely cost and complexity, areeasily understood, as are the difficulties suffered by ‘data-hiding’ orvisual indicia systems (low code rate, low reliability). Therefore,while this device has some promise, it must fall down in being manifesteither as a workable but very expensive unit, or a mid-priced but lessthan useful one.

It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide aneconomical channel for at least one of outgoing or incoming information,avoiding the disadvantages of the channels currently in use in the art,for the transmission of interaction data to or from the instant device.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provideda communications apparatus comprising means for determining whether abroadcast receiver is receiving a particular channel, the apparatusfurther comprising receiving means for receiving a signal, means fordisplaying information in response to a signal received by the receivingmeans, means responsive to a user input to provide an outgoing signaland transmitting means for transmitting the outgoing signal, wherein atleast one of the receiving means and the transmitting means is forcommunicating by radio with a remote station responsive to outgoingsignals from a plurality of communications apparatus.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provideda transmitter apparatus comprising means for storing informationconcerning transmission from a primary broadcaster, means fortransmitting the information and means for synchronising thetransmission of information to at least one transmission from theprimary broadcaster, wherein the means for transmitting informationtransmits distinct from the primary broadcast chain.

Looking generally at the issue of presenting programme-related offeringsto a user via an apparatus, one can see that there is a need to have anoutbound channel, holding the programme-associated data, which isbroadcast to the user in parallel with the programme channel, and whichis picked up by the said apparatus. However, as we have seen, currentmechanisms for sending offering-related PAD requires that the data besent in the same medium as the programme, which in turn requires eithera costly set-top box decoder, an unreliable (and broadcaster-tied)‘data-hiding’ decoder, or the duplication of the receiver circuitry inthe receiver, which would also be very expensive. Broadcast of PAD usingother channels either has significant drawbacks (as with the use oftelephone channels, which are inconvenient, non-broadcast, and notamenable to ‘real-time’ PAD), or has not yet been applied to thedistribution of offering-related PAD (as with the systems which use thepager network as a transport).

The present invention may further provide an offering-related PADbroadcast channel which can be received by a device without the use of aset-top box, telephonic modem, or other external inconveniences, andwhich does not rely upon to co-operation of anyone in the primarybroadcast chain to insert information (whether using out-of-band,in-band, using data hiding or otherwise) into the programme broadcastmedium.

Similarly, it may be appreciated that such a device, if it is to allowuseful purchasing and information request actions by customers, mustsupply a (relatively low-capacity), real-time back (or return) channel,to allow interaction data to be conveyed to the sponsoring party. Such aback channel must be initiated on a individual basis, as opposed to thebroadcast nature of the outbound channel. Existing systems rely onback-channel paths with are either inconvenient (for example, telephonicmodems), require the use of a costly set-top unit (for example, thosewhich exploit the cable system as a return path), or are not ‘real time’or close to ‘real time’ (as with systems which must be taken to a‘downloading’ point to extract any interaction data stored in them).Current systems also connect the back channel of the user's systemdirectly to the sponsoring party, thereby requiring that the latter beequipped with whatever handling equipment may be necessary; anotherpotential hurdle to take-up.

Notice that such a device, if it is to be generally useful, must be ableto receive PAD items in an ongoing feed. There are two main reasons forthis. First of all, the fact that any reasonably-priced embodiment ofsuch a device can have only a modest amount of onboard memory, places alimit on the number of PAD items that can be downloaded to it in anygiven batch mode transfer. Second, for certain events, such as televisedlive horse races, the outcome is not known in advance, and so neither, afortiori, is the content of any event-related PAD. Such PAD cannot,therefore, be downloaded in advance of the event using a batch modetransfer.

These two factors, namely limited buffer memory in the device, and thedependence of certain PAD items on live events, means that the ongoingfeed of PAD to the device must take place in “real time” or close to“real time”. “Reel time” feed is required in the second scenariomentioned, where PAD content is contingent upon an event, the outcome ofwhich is unknown until the time of broadcast. Once the event in questionis determined (for example, a particular horse wins the race), therelevant PAD may be constructed and is then immediately due forpresentation to interested users. Ideally, as little additional delay aspossible is incurred from this point on; hence the term “real-time”.Near “real-time” feed is required in the first scenario, where PAD itemstransmitted to the user device must be relevant to a primary broadcastwithin the near future, if buffer overflow in the device is to beavoided.

The present invention allows the passage of such data to sponsoringparties to be indirected via a central processing station and requireonly the use of standard, well-known protocols for any communicationbetween said central processing station and said sponsoring parties.

The present invention may further allow the presentation tousers—through a cost-effective, single device—of programme-associateddata, particularly where such PAD constitutes an offering, and to allowthe user to express interaction with the PAD through the device,particularly where such interaction consists of the purchase of saidofferings.

The present invention may further allow such PAD to be ‘real-time’ or‘near real-time”, and for the interaction data to be conveyed back tothe sponsoring party in ‘real-time’ or ‘near real-time”.

The present invention may further provide a solution to the problem ofsatisfying conditions 2) and 3) mentioned above, (given thatcondition 1) is already satisfied by the primary broadcast material), inthe form of a simple user device, a plurality of which may be inoperation at any time, remote adaptor station or stations, and, methods.

In accordance with the aforementioned and other objects of theinvention, a brief summary of the present invention is given. Somesimplifications and omissions may be made in the following summary,which is intended to highlight and introduce some aspects of the presentinvention, but not to limit its scope. Detailed descriptions of apreferred and other exemplary embodiments adequate to allow those ofordinary skill in the art to make and use the inventive concepts willfollow in later sections.

The present invention provides apparatus and method for providingsimple, efficient and economic display of advertisements, product andservice offers, and other information (collectively, ‘display data”) tothe users of broadcast receivers, and is intended to have particularapplication where said display data is related to the programmes pickedup by such receivers. The invention also provides apparatus and methodfor users, where applicable, to interact with said display data (forexample, to order an offered product, or to request more informationabout an advertised good or service), and for the details of suchinteraction (collectively, ‘interaction data”) to be sent back to thesponsoring party for processing.

The apparatus, for example a remote control can determine whether achannel is selected on a broadcast receiver. In the case of a remotecontrol this can be by way of selection by a user. A confirmation of thecorrect channel can be obtained by receiving a signal from the broadcastreceiver, for example using a microphone and comparing the signal with apredetermined signal or a signal received at this apparatus.

However, the device may also contain a radio data receiver, which isused to pick up display data relevant to the programme that the user iscurrently watching (or listening to). The device is able to filter thisincoming data according to the current <medium, channel > pair, which isknown to the device.

Incoming display data is stored in memory within the said device untilit becomes eligible for display. Generally, such data will be timed tobecome eligible for display at a point when the programme on theassociated channel contains relevant content, (thereby satisfyingcondition 1) mentioned in the background section); in such acircumstance the display data may be termed programme associated data,or PAD, and the point in time of activation is known as the cue point.The list of PAD items and associated cue points, for each programmebroadcast on a given channel (which can include infomercials andcommercials, for our purposes) must be provided to a central PADscheduler, either ahead of time, just in time, or some combination ofboth. The scheduler co-operates with a database system to hold thislist, and, at the appropriate point (either ahead of or at the cuepoint), passes the next due PAD item, including its cueing information,through to a radio transmission system, which it turn sends it to users'handsets, as rehearsed above.

When a PAD becomes eligible for display and is present in the memory ofthe said remote control device, it will be caused to be shown on thedisplay of said device, possibly accompanied by certain eventindications (such as an audible alarm or flashing lamp).

Various sorts of input signal may be utilized by such a device. Forexample, a serialized PAD software object may be sent, comprising aprogram, associated state, unique identifier (PADUID), relevant <medium,channel> specification, and a triggering (cueing) time specification.Control messages may also be sent, to cause PAD items buffered in anyappropriate receiving device to be rescheduled, edited, deleted orotherwise manipulated. Simple trigger signals may be sent, to cause anyappropriate receiving device to perform some preset operation.Configuration information may be sent (including software updates forthe main device operating routines). “Pure” data may also be sent,devoid of any executable content, such data to be interpreted (andpossibly displayed) by software routines resident in any appropriatereceiving device.

If the user desires (and the PAD is of a nature so to permit), s/he mayinteract with the display data by operating controls on the said device.Through this mechanism the user may traverse through a structure ofdisplays, or modify state information associated therewith, under thecontrol of a flow control program embedded in the display data. The usermay also move backwards and forwards through the set of display dataitems which has been received (bounded by the size of the memory) ifdesired. If a user is particularly interested in a unit of display data,s/he may cause said unit to be stored in non-volatile memory on the saiddevice, from where it may be retrieved by the user for processing at alater time. In normal circumstances, any given unit of display data iseventually evicted from the memory of the device by an incoming unit;this will happen whenever the display data memory is full and the givenunit is deemed least eligible to be retained, under some appropriatemetric.

User interactions with each unit of display data are stored, and theflow control program contained with each unit may specify at which point(if at all) such interaction data should be forwarded to the sponsor ofthe display data. When this point is reached, a radio data transmitterin the device is used to send the interaction data back, via a radioservice provider, to the central processing station. Here, it is fedinto an interaction processor, which is responsible for providing theappropriate response. This may involve initiating a transaction onbehalf of the user, possibly via an Internet gateway to the appropriatesponsoring party, requesting that the sponsoring party send moreinformation, logging the interaction in a user database, performing afinancial transaction, or otherwise.

In response to the interaction data so transmitted, it is possible forthe interaction processor to send back data for the individualconsumption of the display data program that initiated the transmissionof the interaction data in the first place. This mechanism may be used,for example, to confirm that an order has been received and will beprocessed.

The central processing station mentioned above may be part of a largenetwork of such stations, which may be arranged in such a manner as toprovide transparent ‘fail-over’ of the transactions of one processingstations to others.

When a transaction is performed using the handset, details of thattransaction are stored in non-volatile memory, and a set of the mostrecent transactions may be displayed to the user on demand. A fullrecord for each user is stored at the central processing stationhandling that user, and may be downloaded to the handset on demand.

From a user's perspective, the device allows an easy, cheap andhassle-free entry into the world of interactive broadcasting. Serviceswhich may be offered include programme-associated selling, scheduleinformation, betting, advertisement follow-up, voting, competitions,audience demographic measurement, interactive story lines, and manyothers.

The present invention will now be described, by way of example, withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of one embodiment of the remote control apparatusof the present invention;

FIGS. 2A through 2L show various exemplary displays of the embodiment ofthe remote control device of the present invention shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of an interactive system having apreferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is illustration of the embodiment of the remote control device ofthe present invention shown in FIG. 1, as it might be used to offerprogramme-associated goods; and

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing the major components of oneembodiment of the remote control device of the present invention. Onlythe major data flows are show; minor control flows are not.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of an alternative embodiment of the presentinvention, as a “pass-through” adaptor that may be attached to anexisting broadcast receiver remote control handset.

FIG. 7A is a plan view of another alternative embodiment of the presentinvention, as a device which passively detects the currently selected<medium, channel>pair, and which has no remote control functionality.

FIG. 7B is a plan view of another alternative embodiment of the presentinvention, as a more restricted form of the device disclosed in FIG. 7A,which relies on user input to set the current <medium, channel>pair.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of an interactive broadcast systemembodying the principles of the present invention. The system of FIG. 3is intended to serve as an example and should not be construed aslimiting the invention.

Broadcasters 402 generate content from a number of sources 403,depending on the broadcast medium in use. For example, a televisionbroadcaster might utilise live feed from video cameras, and video playedfrom tape, as primary sources. Commercial broadcasters will also haveprogrammes and segments (such as infomercials and commercials) providedby sponsors 401, for insertion. In the normal course of events thiscombined content stream is fed into a transmission mechanism 404 forbroadcast to into a user's home 416 where the content carrier isacquired and the content reconstructed and displayed using a broadcastreceiver 405. Said transmission mechanism may involve terrestrialradio-frequency broadcast, satellite radio-frequency broadcast, or wiredor fibre optic cable transmission, or otherwise. The overall path andsystem, by means of which content is disseminated from broadcasters 402to broadcast receivers 405 in users' homes 416, is termed the primarybroadcast chain.

For the system of the instant invention to operate, as mentioned above,a rolling ‘play list’ is compiled for each broadcast channel, containingthe PAD display data records and their respective cue points. Thisinformation is fed, whether well or only very shortly in advance of theearliest cue point in the segment of the rolling list passed at thattime, to a PAD scheduler 411 at a central processing station 420. Such alist may be provided by any combination of the sponsors 401, thebroadcasters 402, or by some third party 406 which annotates programmes,either as these programmes are broadcast or ahead of time. The use ofthird party annotation may be useful where a broadcaster does not wish,or is not correctly placed, to co-operate with the display ofprogramme-associated information. There are a number of circumstanceswhere this might be appropriate; for example, local advertising,advertising making use of products appearing in a feature film, bettingon the outcome of events, such as sporting events, and so on.Furthermore, the circumstance may arise, where a sponsor, for example,has an advertisement produced, but does not know at which time such thisadvert will be shown. In such a case, the transmission signal of thebroadcaster in question may be monitored to detect the saidadvertisement at which point any PAD for that advert may be instantlycued.

In one envisaged embodiment of such a monitoring system, each centralprocessing station contains a database of various audio and/or videosamples (supplied ahead of time) taken from the programmes (includingadvertisement and infomercials) which are to be augmented with data. Amatching engine then continuously compares input from the variousbroadcast channels with these samples, and uses a commonly knownalgorithm (such as a sliding-window, averaged, square-of-differencesystem with an activation threshold) to determine when a ‘match’ hasoccurred. Such a system may be utilised to determine that a piece ofannotated content is being broadcast at a certain time on a particular<medium, channel> pair, which may in turn allow the scheduler to verifyor regain its synchronisation lock for the PAD items for that content.Through the transmission of special control messages, PAD items alreadysent to user devices may be rescheduled or deleted, without the mainbody of the message having to be retransmitted.

The possibility of maintaining multiple, alternative lists of PAD itemsfor a given <medium, channel> pair is acknowledged here, with selectionof the appropriate list or lists at the user device; however, theprimary focus in this exposition will be for the simpler case of asingle ‘cue list’ per pair.

When the next display message is due to be transmitted, as may bedetected at the PAD scheduler 41 1 using either a polling or,preferably, an interrupt mechanism, it is retrieved from a PAD database408, given a unique identification number (PADUID), and sent to atransmission gateway 413, which may be physically remote, where it istranslated into the correct format to be sent over a radio transmissionservice 414. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, thePAD would be sent using the text message transmission protocols of acellular paging system, with a virtual ‘recipient address’ identifiedwith the pair consisting of the medium and content broadcast channel inquestion, but other formats are obviously possible. For example, theoutbound PAD could be transmitted using ‘data-hiding’ technology over anexisting radio broadcast channel, or sent on a dedicated data radiochannel, or otherwise.

From the gateway, the radio service provider 414 arranges for thetransmission of the information over the service 414. In the preferredembodiment this involves sending the message using a cellular network ofpaging transmitters.

The message is received in a given user's home 416 by receivingapparatus 417, which in the preferred embodiment, is a remote controldevice for said broadcast receiver 405. In the preferred embodiment, thesaid remote control device 417 will contain a two-way paging chipset toallow reception and transmission of digital information in a ubiquitousand cost-efficient manner. The user 418 utilises the remote controldevice 417 to select the channel to receive at any given time on a givenbroadcast receiver 405, and this allows the device 417 to select theappropriate stream of incoming PAD items. In the preferred embodiment,the selected channel and receiver uniquely specify a virtual ‘paginguser id’ to which the said two-way pager chipset may be set to beresponsive.

In an alternative envisaged embodiment, data is transmitted to thedevice using a radio subcarrier scheme, such as is provided by the SCAsystem in the United States. In another envisaged embodiment, the datatransport mechanisms of the Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) system areused to transmit information to the device (as defined in ETS 300401—“Radio Broadcasting Systems; Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) toMobile, Portable and Fixed Receivers”).

The internal configuration of the remote control device 417 will bedescribed later. For now, simply note that the device 417 will displaythe incoming PAD display data to the user at the appropriate cue point,and may accept interaction from the user on the basis of the informationso displayed. Details of such interaction, where relevant, may betransmitted back to the central control station 420, together with theunique handset/user id (HUUID) and PADUID of the initial display data.In the preferred embodiment, encoding and transmission is performed by atwo-way paging chipset in the remote control device, and picked up bythe local cell receiver of a co-operating paging service operator.However, other arrangements for reception of the return radio signal arepossible.

For example, the system may make use of bandwidth available within adigital cellular telephony system, under some appropriate protocol (e.g.the Short Message Service of GSM). Alternatively, the signal may be sentinto an unlicenced radio data network, for example, a metropolitanpacket-relay system.

In any event, the return signal is picked up by the receiver network 415of a radio service provider (which may or may not be the same asprovider 414), and forwarded to a reception gateway 412. This gatewayformats the interaction data in a manner suitable for processing by therest of the system, and arranges for the translated message to betransported to the appropriate central processing site 420, which may bephysically remote.

At the central processing site, the forwarded message is received by aninteraction processor 407, which decodes and processes the interactiondata. It makes use of the PAD database 408, in conjunction with theenclosed PADUID. The enclosed HUUID is used to look up the user's recordin a user database 410. Security mechanisms are incorporated into themessage sent from the handset 417 to prevent fraud.

There are a number of possible operations available to the interactionprocessor upon receipt of a message, and the use of a plug-inarchitecture here allows this set to be extended at will. Indeed, aseparate handler may be registered for each PAD, if desired. In anyevent, certain common actions will be possible. For example, the user'scredit card details may be held in the user database 410 (indeed, if theremote control device is sold to the user by credit card, then thisinformation will be immediately available after the sale), and used, inconjunction with the offer details from the PAD database 408 and vendordetails from the vendor database 409 to formulate a financialtransaction request, which may then be forwarded to the sponsoring partyin question 401. This forwarding may utilise such transports andprotocols as are known in the art, and may interface to existing systemsinstalled by the sponsor; for example, the request might be sent overthe Internet, using the Secure Electronic Transactions (SET) protocol.Alternatively, the interaction might constitute a request for furtherinformation, in which case the sponsor will be so informed. Here, aconvenient format may be a ‘virtual hit’ on the sponsor's Internet Website, suitably tagged so that the sponsor is aware of the mechanismthrough which the interest has been channelled. In yet another commontransaction, details are passed back to broadcasters 402, allowing theproduction of genuinely interactive broadcasts—for example, by allowingfeedback voting on a talent contest, or program story line selection.

Through use of an optional home computer 419 connected to theappropriate central processing station 420 over a known transport, suchas the Internet, users will be able to review the transaction historiesheld in the database 410, and have access to all the facilities offeredby the handset 417, but in greater detail and with full graphicalsupport. It should be noted that use of a home computer 419 is notnecessary to the operation in the main of the present invention.

As the user's name and address is held in the user database 410, theprocess of purchasing, or requesting the mail-out of information, isgreatly simplified.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the remotecontrol handset according to the instant invention, and FIG. I is a planview of one embodiment of such a handset.

Turning first to FIG. 5, we see that the user of the handset providesinput to the device via input system 622, which in one preferredembodiment consists of a set of keys. This input is supplied to the coreof a conventional remote control system, 614. This core system may be ofany of the configurations well known and rehearsed in the art, such asvendor-specific, universal, learning, programmable, or otherwise. Itconsists of an input controller, which decodes the data from said inputsystem 622, and invokes the appropriate response in the remote controldriver 612. This driver will contain such means, well known in the art(e.g., ROM lookup tables, non-volatile RAM for ‘learnt’ configurations,etc.), as are necessary for the operation of the device as a remotecontroller of the required type, and will be connected to infra-redtransmitter 613. This will provide an infra-red signal 615, codedappropriately by 612 in response to the user input from input system 622as detected by the input controller 611, which, in turn, will drive theremote consumer device (such as a broadcast receiver, VCR, etc).

Depending on the type of remote control device desired, various optionalmodules may be added to the remote control core 614. For example, a‘learning’ remote control would need to have an infra-red receiver 617connected to the driver 612, in order that inbound infra-red signals 616from (e.g.) a target handset could be recorded. Similarly, a‘programmable’ remote control may require a communications system 628 toallow the appropriate vendor-specific codes to be downloaded from aremote site upon request. According to one preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, this functionality of system 628 may be provided as asecondary function of the radio data transceiver 603 (described below).

As well as feeding the driver 612 via output 623, the input controller611 also passes details of the invoked commands to the main processingsystem 604 within the handset via output 624. This processing system isresponsible for dealing with the reception, storage and display ofincoming display data, and also handling any interaction with saiddisplay data from the user, including (where necessary) causing anyresulting interaction data to be transmitted back to the central controlsystem 420.

The main processing system 604 contains a microprocessor 607 (whichexecutes the software components of the user-side system), a real-timeclock 626 used to determine (inter alia) when the cueing point of PADitems has been reached, a watchdog timer 629 to reset the system shouldit become locked up for whatever reason, and various memory components.The latter may be split into: workspace random access memory (RAM) 608,used to hold the ephemeral running state of programs executing on themicroprocessor 607, non-volatile RAM 609 used to hold configurationinformation which must not be lost upon power loss (such as, possibly,HUUID information, purchase records, display data that the user hasrequested be stored, and possibly system software or patches), andfinally, read-only non-volatile memory (ROM) 610, used to storenon-changing information in the system, such as core system softwareroutines.

According to one embodiment of the current system, the functions of allor part of the entire system 604 are provided by an appropriately chosenmicrocontroller, to reduce cost.

According to another embodiment of the current system, either or boththe input controller 611 and the remote control driver 612 are providedby the said microcontroller also, to reduce cost.

The software running on the microprocessor 607 has the responsibility ofstoring display data pertaining to the currently selected channel of thecurrently selected broadcast receiver. The microprocessor 607 knowswhich is the currently selected channel, because it monitors the data624 sent from the input controller 611; when a channel change isdetected, the new <medium, channel> pair is stored in the non-volatileRAM 609. The system software is so arranged that, as soon as may bepracticable after the user switches on a broadcast receiver using thedevice, the microprocessor sends an output along the bus 624 to theinput controller 611, to force the transmission of an appropriateinfra-red code to the said receiver, to force the selection of a knownstarting channel.

During operation, the microprocessor 607 may obtain extra informationand confirmation about the current <medium, channel>pair, through theoptional additional channel confirmation system 625. According to oneembodiment of the current invention, this is provided by a microphoneand analogue-to-digital (A to D) converter, together with a system whichperiodically receives a set of expected amplitude value ratings for each<medium, channel> pair from the radio transceiver system 603, andprovides a running best match between these using such value-setcorrelation mechanisms as are well known in the art, such as asliding-window, averaged, square-of difference system with an activationthreshold.

The currently selected <medium, channel> pair affects what informationis accepted by the microprocessor from the radio transceiver system 603.According to the preferred embodiment, this will involve sending acontrol instruction to the pager reception circuitry to make itsensitive only to messages with the appropriate ‘virtual’ pager user id,corresponding to the said pair.

The radio transceiver system 603 is the main method by which the devicecommunicates with the appropriate central processing station 420, asdiscussed above. Inbound messages, transmitted as radio signals 618, arepicked up by the radio data receiver 601, which functionality in thepreferred embodiment will be provided by the reception portions of atwo-way pager chipset. Said messages are then passed through the messagesecurity system 627, to ensure that they are legitimate. In oneembodiment, this process involves decrypting said inbound messagesaccording to a public key algorithm. In another embodiment, it involvescomparing a stated checksum on said inbound messages with the samechecksum computed dynamically.

Any messages which are picked up and successfully validated by the radiotransceiver system 603 are fed to the microprocessor 607, where their<medium, channel> pair is checked against that stored in thenon-volatile RAM 609. Those messages which do not match are discarded,whereas those which do match are placed into a buffer in the workspaceRAM 608. This buffer clearly has a limited size, and, when the buffer isfull and a new message comes in, the PAD item (message) in the bufferwith the cue point furthest away from the current time is discarded.Where possible, items which have interactive data stored are notdiscarded until either a timeout period elapses or the transaction iscompleted (in which case a summary may be written to the non-volatileRAM 609, and the item discarded if necessary). In the case of a tie, onePAD item is discarded at random. PAD items in the buffer are held inorder of cue-up time.

In an envisaged extension to the system, sufficient memory is providedthat PAD items for a number of <medium, channel> pairs may beaccumulated, not merely the currently selected pair, allowing forinformation to be instantly available even when the user skips to a new<medium, channel> pair. The device may keep a record of the mostcommonly accessed <medium, channel> pairs in non-volatile RAM 609, tohelp decide upon which PAD items to record.

Each inbound message carries a timestamp which is set at transmission;this allows the real time clock 626 to be accurately maintained insynchronisation by the processor. When the device is used for the firsttime, messages for any <medium, channel> pair are accepted, in order toquickly acquire an accurate timestamp to initialise the real time clock626; however, said messages are not retained or displayed unless they domatch the current pair.

In another envisaged extension to the system, PAD items containadditional descriptive information—metadata—which allows them to beselectively retained and displayed according to the profile of eachparticular user. This profile, which may be held in the non-volatile RAM609, may be used to match PAD to users on criteria such as age, sex,geographical location, and so on.

In yet another envisaged extension to the system, the profiles of usersare held, and may to some extent be generated, at the central processingsite (420 in FIG. 3). These profiles, stored in the user database (410in FIG. 3) are matched against metadata-tagged PAD items in the PADdatabase (408 in FIG. 3). A matching list of users is compiled, and thisinformation (in the form of unique user ids) is appended to theappropriate PAD items prior to transmission. Upon reception at a device,the currently active user id is matched against the said list of users,and only those PAD items which do match are retained and displayed.

Special control messages may also be used, which will force the messagecorresponding to a specified PADUID to be flushed from the memory ofreceiving devices, or undergo modification of various types, includingchange of cue-up time.

The cue point for each PAD item is also specified as a real time point,with an optional special case of ‘display immediately’ which may berelevant in certain circumstances. The system does not require that PADitems be transmitted from the control centre in the order that they areto be displayed, since this is controlled by the aforementioned cue-uppoint.

The microprocessor 607 is responsible for initiating a display routinefor each PAD item as its cue-up point is reached by the real time clock626. It will detect such an event either through the use of an interruptcreated by the real time clock 626, or by continuous polling. The formermechanism is to be preferred where possible. It may also invokeadditional output systems 621 to attract the user's attention to the newdisplay data. In the preferred embodiment of the current invention, suchadditional output systems will include a piezoelectric buzzer, and aflashing LED. The user may disable these systems if so desired.

The display routine executes the program unit associated with theappropriate PAD item. (In this sense, we may regard the display data asbeing an object, on which a ‘display’ method is invoked.) This programunit may make use of a set of core library routines stored in either orboth of the ROM 610 and non-volatile RAM 609, to assist its operation.The microprocessor executes display routines using a pre-emptivestrategy, to prevent the device becoming locked up due to an endlessloop bug in such a routine. The watchdog timer 629 will reset themicroprocessor should a bug in the display routine (or some otherproblem) cause the system to lock up.

To actually generate a display on the device, the display routine of theactive PAD item may call various utility library routines, which causethe microprocessor 607 to issue commands to the display system 605. Thissystem contains a display controller 620, responsible for translatingthe high-level commands sent from the microprocessor 607 into whateverlow level display control signals may be required by the actual displaysystem involved 606. In the preferred embodiment of the currentinvention, the display is rendered as a multi-line pixel-addressed LCDscreen.

Other library routines available to an executing display routine provide(inter alia) read and write access to the various memory stores (608,609 and 610) of the device, allow data to be passed to the inputcontroller 611 via the bus 624, and allow messages to be sent back tothe main control centre (and so, possibly, to a sponsoring party, abroadcaster, or otherwise). This latter functionality causes informationto be sent to the radio data transmitter 602 of the radio transceiversystem 603, having first passed through the message security system 627.According to the preferred embodiment of the current invention, thiswill involve providing at least a checksum for non-critical outgoingmessages, and public-key encryption for critical messages, together witha message digest generated using a special key which makes use, incyclical series, of a unique list of values held within the non-volatileRAM 609 of the device installed at manufacture and modifiable at latertimes. Messages are sent from the device using radio emissions 619.

Routines will also exist to allow the display routine to receiveinformation back from the appropriate main control centre in response toa message sent; this cyclical process may continue for as long asnecessary. Using further library routines, a display routine may notifythe system that the user's interaction has reached a logical endingpoint, which will allow the PAD item to be flushed if required.

Turning now to FIG. 6, we can see an alternative embodiment of thecurrent invention in which an adaptor unit 701, providing the facilitiesof the interactive set of controls (3 on FIG. 1) found on the preferredembodiment discussed earlier, can fit over a user's existing remotecontrol unit 704. The “host” handset 704 contains, inter alia, aninfra-red transmitter 703, which emits control signals 705 in responseto user input. The adaptor unit 701 is so designed that the emittedsignals 705 are passed through and permitted to emit from window 702 assignals 706. However, the device 701 also contains an infra-redreceiver, which samples the signal 705, allowing the unit to identifythe control signal which is being sent. When the control signalrepresents a command to change the current <medium, channel> pair, thedevice 701 switches its PAD display and reception accordingly. Theadaptor and host handset are shown in “exploded” form in FIG. 6; innormal use they would be joined together 706.

Turning now to FIG. 1, we can see the controls that would commonly bepresent on an embodiment of the remote control handset 1 according tothe present invention.

The handset controls are split into two major groups. The first set 2contains controls that are commonly found on conventional remote controldevices, and the second set 3 contains controls specific to theinteractive and innovative features of the current invention. Commandsgenerated by the device are sent through as infra-red code sequencesthrough the window 17.

Keypad 4 allows for the selection of channels as desired on the currentbroadcast receiver device, which in turn may be chosen using the keys 8.Controls 5 allow cycling through channels, and level-set controls 6provide a means to adjust volume, brightness etc. Finally, there is asubset of other controls 7 which perform various functions, such asturning the target broadcast receiver on and off, muting the device, andso on.

In the set of interactive controls 3, we have a multi-line, pixeladdressed LCD display 14 on which display data may be shown. Controls 13and 15 may be exercised to invoke options shown on the screen, at thebottom and sides respectively. For example, in the configuration shownin FIG. 1, pressing the third triangular button from the left wouldcause the number of items ordered to increment by 1.

Users may traverse through the set of display data in memory using theforward and back keys 12. Newly displayed PAD items may be announcedthrough the use of a piezoelectric buzzer 11 and a flashing LED 10. The‘lock’ button 16, if pressed, removes purchasing authority from thehandset until the user re-enters his or her PIN code. The ‘Buy Now!’button 9 acts as a confirmation button for the current screen. Where noentry has been made on a screen, pressing button 9 will select thedefault values, if any.

Pressing some combination of keys (such as any two of 15, for example)will bring up a main, master menu allowing navigation to varioussubscreens.

FIG. 4 illustrates a simple example of an embodiment of the handsetremote control device 502 of the present invention in use. Broadcastreceiver 501 is displaying a television programme—“The Tool Show”—and asthe presenter starts to demonstrate the use of good drilling technique503, the handset 502 displays a programme-related offer 504 for thedrill that the presenter is using. The PAD item corresponding to thisoffer will have been downloaded to the device from the relevant centralprocessing station 420 (FIG. 3) at some point previously, and cued up atthe appropriate point for display by the mechanisms rehearsed above.

In order that a better understanding of some of the uses of the handsetremote control device of the present invention may be appreciated, someexemplary displays from one embodiment shall now be considered, withreference to FIGS. 2A through 2L. These displays are intended asillustration only and should not be interpreted as limiting theinvention.

FIG. 2A illustrates the offer screen of the example from FIG. 4, aftersome interaction. Line 101 contains a brief description of the product,and line 103 gives pricing information. Indicia 102 shows that there arecurrently 3 PAD items in memory for the current <medium, channel> pair,of which the currently displayed item is the second. Lines 104 givebrief information about the current order and the total cost of thatorder if actually purchased. Below this are indicators of the functionsfor the variant selector buttons below (13 on FIG. 1). The ‘BUY’ button105 will initiate a purchase (similar to pressing the ‘BUY NOW!’ button,9 on FIG. 1). The ‘INFO’ button 106 will bring up a screen givingfurther information about the offered product. The variable functionbuttons corresponding to the ‘+1’ and ‘−1’ labels (107 and 108,respectively) increase and decrease the number of units of the productordered.

If the user opts to buy, then the screen of FIG. 2C is shown, whichcontains a request to confirm the transaction 114, a selection of creditand/or debit cards 113 to choose from (chosen by pressing one of theside variable function buttons, 15 on FIG. 1), and the option to cancelthe transaction 117. Selecting a credit card will bring up a 'successfulorder’ screen, not shown here.

The screen of FIG. 2B is an example of an offer of information, whichmight be timed to run alongside an advertisement appearing on thecomplementary primary broadcast. Here, the user is prompted 109, 111,112 to press the third from left bottom variable function button (13 onFIG. 1), which will cause a message to be sent back to the sponsor, whowill then have the details necessary to send the user an informationpack about the product 110. Pressing the ‘BUY NOW!’ button (9 on FIG. 1)will also have this effect, since it selects the default action on eachscreen. Once again, we see that the PAD item displayed is one of several102 (in this case, the last of 4).

Another use of the system is for interactive voting on broadcastcontent, and FIG. 2D shows how the display might look when this featureis in use. Here, the user is prompted 116 to enter his/her vote for oneof the acts 115 (in a talent show, for example), by pressing one of theside variable function buttons (15 on FIG. 1).

FIG. 2E illustrates a simple channel guide for the currently selected<medium, channel> pair. A short listing of programmes for the currentpair, together with start times, is given 216. A cursor 203 may bescrolled up and down the list using the bottom variable function buttons(13 on FIG. 1) corresponding to 206 and 205 respectively; and it ispossible to have a list longer than the screen of which a window isdisplayed during scrolling, in the familiar manner. Indicia 201 showsthe programme currently being broadcast. The current time 202 is shown,along with an indication of the current <medium, channel> pair 215 (inthis case, the third channel on a television tuner is selected). Thecurrently selected programme may have further information availableabout it, in which case label 204 will appear, and the bottom variablefunction button corresponding to it (from 13 on FIG. 1) may be pressed.

If this is done, a screen such as illustrated in FIG. 2F is displayed.In this instance, information about the selected programme is given 207,and, where this is longer than the screen, the user may scroll up anddown through it using the bottom variable function buttons correspondingto labels 209 and 210, respectively. (Note that, in all cases ofscrolling, the bottom line containing the function labels remainsstatic). The current time 102 is also shown.

FIG. 2G illustrates how the system may be used as a betting terminal,where the details of the event so bet upon may be broadcast on thecurrently selected <medium, channel> pair. Here, a simple horse racingscreen is shown. The user is prompted to select place a bet and told ofthe time available so to do 212. Various horses 211 may be selected bypressing the appropriate side variable function button (15 on FIG. 1).Note that this is a simplified example, and in reality, such a systemwould deal with setting the wager, displaying more information,including a larger number of potential candidates, etc.

When the handset is locked for purchase, by pressing the ‘LOCK’ button(16 on FIG. 1) or otherwise, the screen shown is FIG. 2H is displayedwhen a purchase is attempted. Here, the user is prompted 213 to enter afour-digit PIN 214, which will unlock the device. The device may be setto automatically lock if unused for more than a certain period of time.The PIN will be entered using the keypad (4 on FIG. 1).

If the handset is powered down or left unused for a significant periodof time, it will revert to a mode in which the user identity must beset, as illustrated in FIG. 2K. Here, the handset has three users withina household 308, Mary, Mike, and Robert. The user is prompted to selecthis or her identity 309 by pressing the corresponding side variablefunction button (15 in FIG. 1). Once a user is selected, screen 2H maybe displayed for verification. The handset device may utilise acapacitative switch to detect handling and initiate the power on cycle.

In FIG. 7A, we see an alternative embodiment of the current invention,in which no remote control functionality is present. Here, a portabledevice 801, providing the facilities of the interactive set of controls(3 on FIG. 1) found on the preferred embodiment discussed earlier, andwhich may also provide conventional pager functionality, contains amicrophone 802 by which it continuously monitors its surrounding audioenvironment. Under normal viewing or listening circumstances, the audioinput 803 to microphone 802 will contain a large component due to theprogramme currently being broadcast on the current <medium, channel>pair.

Having taken a series of audio observations across a short time window,the device performs a sliding match against a set of audio“fingerprints” (which are in turn received periodically from theappropriate central processing station (420 in FIG. 3) via radio link).The matching may use any of the value-series comparison metrics as areknown in the art, such as least difference squared summation. If thisprocess yields a unique match to a “fingerprint” of a <medium, channel>pair with sufficient confidence, then that pair will be used to controlthe current display and acceptance of PAD by the device.

FIG. 7B shows another alternative embodiment of the current invention,in which a portable device 804, similar in most respects to the deviceof FIG. 7A just considered, requires user input to select the current<medium, channel> pair. The user may cause the device to show display811, in which s/he is prompted to enter the currently selected medium809 and channel 810. To perform this selection, the user may move theselection cursors using the variable function buttons corresponding tothe “medium” up and down and “channel” up and down labels (805, 806, 808and 807 respectively). The selected pair is subsequently used to controlthe display and acceptance of PAD by the device, but does not cause theemission of control signals to a broadcast receiver.

The system may be used with a number of different types of broadcastreceiver, and FIG. 2I shows the sort of display that might be shown toaccompany radio broadcasts. Details of the current station are shown301, and an indication of the receiver type 312.

Brief details of the currently playing song, together with the currenttime, are given 303. As before, a number of PAD items may be held inmemory, and the position of the currently displayed item is shown 302.By pressing the bottom variant function key (13 in FIG. 1) correspondingto the ‘INFO’ label 304, the user may bring up another screen with moreinformation about the current track (not shown here). Pressing thebutton corresponding to the ‘BUY’ label 305, or pressing the ‘BUY NOW!’button (9 on FIG. 1) will initiate a purchase of the album or singlecurrently playing. In this case, the user will be prompted with furtherconfirmation screens (not shown in detail here).

FIGS. 2J and 2L are given to illustrate some other potential uses of thedevice, less directly connected with programme-associated material. InFIG. 2J the user is prompted 306 to enter a package tracking code 307(as used by some document and parcel delivery companies),which may theninitiate a remote query to display to the user the current location ofthe specified package (using screens not shown). Similarly, FIG. 2Lillustrates a ‘shop from home’ usage, in which the user is prompted 310to enter a joint product/vendor identification code 311. This willinitiate a remote query to display information about the product soidentified, in a manner similar to that used by PAD product offers (asshown in FIG. 2A, for example); if this is successful the user mayinitiate a purchase, as with the PAD example discussed previously. Inboth cases, the details would be entered via the keypad (4 in FIG. 1).

Although illustrative embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, it isto be understood that the invention is not limited to those preciseembodiments and that changes and modifications may be made by thoseskilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of theinvention.

Moreover, any application or patent cited herein should be considered tobe incorporated by reference as to any subject matter deemed essentialto the present disclosure.

1. A communications apparatus comprising means for determining whether abroadcast receiver is receiving a particular channel, the apparatusfurther comprising receiving means for receiving a signal, means fordisplaying information in response to a signal received by the receivingmeans, means responsive to a user input to provide an outgoing signaland transmitting means for transmitting the outgoing signal, wherein atleast one of the receiving means and the transmitting means is forcommunicating by radio with a remote station responsive to outgoingsignals from a plurality of communications apparatus.
 2. Apparatus asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the remote station is distinct from aprimary station providing signals to a broadcast receiver.
 3. Apparatusas claimed in claim 2, wherein the at least one of the receiving meansand transmitting means for communicating with a remote station comprisesa means for communicating with a station in a cell of a multi-cellcommunication system.
 4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein themulti-cell communication system comprises a paging system.
 5. Anapparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the means fortransmitting the outgoing signal is arranged to transmit the outgoingsignal as soon as a user input is complete.
 6. An apparatus as claimedin any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the means for receiving a signal isarranged to receive a signal from a broadcast receiver.
 7. An apparatusas claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 6, wherein the means fordisplaying information is arranged to display information immediately inresponse to a signal received by the receiving means.
 8. An apparatus asclaimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising means forstoring a signal received by the receiving means.
 9. An apparatus asclaimed in claim 8, further comprising time comparison means forcontrolling display of information in response to a stored signal at apredetermined time.
 10. An apparatus as claimed in any one of the claims1 to 9, wherein the apparatus is portable.
 11. An apparatus as claimedin claim 10, wherein the apparatus is a remote control.
 12. An apparatusas claimed in claim 11, wherein at least one of the receiving means andthe means for displaying information is responsive to alter theinformation displayed in response to a channel selected using the remotecontrol.
 13. An apparatus as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 9,wherein the means for determining whether a broadcast receiver isreceiving a particular channel comprises means for receiving a signalfrom the broadcast receiver, and means for comparing this signal with asignal received from the receiving means.
 14. An apparatus as claimed inany one of the claims 1 to 9, wherein the means for determining whethera broadcast receiver is receiving a particular channel comprises meansfor receiving a signal from a remote control.
 15. An apparatus asclaimed in any one of the claims 1 to 14, wherein the means fordisplaying information is further responsive to the user input.
 16. Anapparatus as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 15, wherein thetransmitting means is arranged to transmit an encoded authorisationsignal.
 17. An apparatus as claimed in claims 1 to 16, furthercomprising security means responsive to a predetermined user input forpreventing the transmission of at least part of an outbound signal ifthe predetermined user input is not correctly provided.
 18. An apparatusas claimed in claim 17, wherein the at least part of an outbound signalis the encoded authorisation signal.
 19. An apparatus as claimed inclaim 14 or claim 15, wherein the security means is responsive to aplurality of different predetermined user inputs.
 20. A transmitterapparatus comprising means for storing information concerningtransmission from a primary broadcaster, means for transmitting theinformation and means for synchronising the transmission of informationto at least one transmission from the primary broadcaster, wherein themeans for transmitting information transmits distinct from the primarybroadcast chain.
 21. An apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein themeans for storing the information includes means for storing timing dataassociated with the information and the means for synchronising thetransmission of information is responsive to the stored timing data. 22.An apparatus as claimed in claim 21, wherein the means for sychronisingthe transmission of information controls the means for transmitting theinformation to transmit the information before an intended time fordisplay, and to transmit cueing information.
 23. An apparatus as claimedin claim 20, further comprising means for receiving a signal from theprimary broadcaster, wherein the means for synchronising thetransmission of information is responsive to at least one portion of thesignal from the primary broadcaster.
 24. An apparatus as claimed in anyone of the claims 20 to 23, wherein the means for transmittinginformation comprises a multi-cell communications system.
 25. Anapparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein the multi-cell communicationssystem comprises a cellular paging system.
 26. A communication systemcomprising: transmitter apparatus comprising means for storinginformation concerning transmission from a primary broadcaster, meansfor transmitting the information and means for synchronising thetransmission of information to at least one transmission from theprimary broadcaster, wherein the means for transmitting informationtransmits distinct from the primary broadcast chain; apparatuscomprising receiving means for receiving a signal from the transmitterapparatus, means for displaying information in response to a signalreceived by the receiving means, means responsive to a user input toprovide an outgoing signal and transmitting means for transmitting theoutgoing signal; and receiving apparatus for receiving the outgoingsignal.
 27. A communications system as claimed in claim 26, wherein thereceiving apparatus further comprises means for storing the receivedoutgoing signal for subsequent processing.
 28. Apparatus as claimed inclaim 27, wherein the receiving apparatus comprises a station in a cellof a multi-cell communication system.
 29. An apparatus as claimed inclaim 28, wherein the multi-cell communication system comprises a pagingsystem.
 30. An apparatus as claimed in any one of the claims 27 to 29,wherein the means for displaying information is arranged to displayinformation immediately in response to a signal received by thereceiving means.
 31. A method of communication comprising: storinginformation concerning transmission from a primary broadcaster,transmitting the information and synchronising the transmission ofinformation to at least one transmission from the primary broadcaster,wherein the information is transmitted distinct from the primarybroadcast chain; receiving a signal from the transmitter apparatus,displaying information in response to a signal received by the receivingmeans, providing an outgoing signal in response to a user input andtransmitting the outgoing signal; and receiving the outgoing signal. 32.A method as claimed in claim 31, wherein the transmission distinct fromthe primary broadcast chain is via a cellular paging system.